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extracting and supers- do you put them back on?

Hi All:
I will be extracting two supera of honey this weekend. This is my first time at extracting. When I am finished extracing do I put the supers back on? I know it is too late for the bees to fill them back up or do I store them somewhere? I do not want the wax months to get at them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Re: extracting and supers- do you put them back on?

Either put them back on so they can maybe fill them with brood, or leave the combs out where bees in general can get to them. When they're clean, seal them up in a plastic bag and use them to give the girls a head start next spring. Last year I just sealed them after cleaning, but this year I saw a few hive beetles, so will freeze the empty combs for 48 hr before sealing up.

Re: extracting and supers- do you put them back on?

If you have telescoping/inner covers, you can putting the inner cover on top of the brood boxes then stacking extracted supers on top, with the telescoping cover on top of everything.

I tried that this year following a suggestion on BeeSource and it worked amazingly well. In about 3-4 days the bees had removed all honey, including from uncapped frames that I didn't extract, and patched up comb damage from extraction. Easy peasy.

It may not always work this well - I can't say since my sample size is two hives - but it has the advantages of giving honey back to the hive you stole it from (no risk of spreading disease) and avoiding robbing induced by open feeding.

It would appear that the bees don't regard the space above the inner cover as part of the hive, but will gladly take food that fortuitously appears there.

Re: extracting and supers- do you put them back on?

If you have telescoping/inner covers, you can putting the inner cover on top of the brood boxes then stacking extracted supers on top, with the telescoping cover on top of everything.

I tried that this year following a suggestion on BeeSource and it worked amazingly well. In about 3-4 days the bees had removed all honey, including from uncapped frames that I didn't extract, and patched up comb damage from extraction. Easy peasy.

It may not always work this well - I can't say since my sample size is two hives - but it has the advantages of giving honey back to the hive you stole it from (no risk of spreading disease) and avoiding robbing induced by open feeding.

It would appear that the bees don't regard the space above the inner cover as part of the hive, but will gladly take food that fortuitously appears there.

OK...let's see if I got this right Luterra...So I would need two inner covers,which I have. One goes above the brood boxes and the other on top of empty supers with the telescoping cover on top of that? Then after they are all clean you store them? I apologize for my ignorance but I want to make sure I get it right. Thanks!

Re: extracting and supers- do you put them back on?

Generally wax moths do not go into honey supers unless there has some brood raised in it, especially if there are cells with pollen in the super. I tend to put a few extracted supers out at a time near my colonies for cleaning. At the end of season (late Oct), I stack supers 8 or 10 high over a queen excluder (keeps mice from coming up into the supers) and put a loose plywood top to keep the rain and snow out. So far, I have had no moth or rodent damage. I have in the past, left lids off all season. Wax moths do not like a lot of light and tend not to infest open supers.

Re: extracting and supers- do you put them back on?

Originally Posted by SallyD

OK...let's see if I got this right Luterra...So I would need two inner covers,which I have. One goes above the brood boxes and the other on top of empty supers with the telescoping cover on top of that? Then after they are all clean you store them? I apologize for my ignorance but I want to make sure I get it right. Thanks!

Yes. The top cover can be anything solid - inner cover/telescoping cover combo, migratory cover, piece of plywood with a brick, etc. The important aspects are to

1. Place the inner cover between the brood boxes and the extracted supers.
2. Make sure there are no bee-sized entrances directly into the supers, so that only the only access is from the hive through the inner cover.

Re: extracting and supers- do you put them back on?

I stacked mine right back on top of the queen excluder for 3 days, went back yesterday and the boxes were full of bees so I put the triangle escape board on top of the queen excluder & under the 3 empty supers. I'll check tomorrow to see if the girls moved downstairs.
I wasn't sure what to do either but decided I wanted them to get it all and not share with the flies & yellowjackets. I hope they didn't just start storing in them, guess I'll find out tomorrow.